Take up woman’s nationality issue with Pak, HC tells govt

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, April 29

The J&K High Court has directed the government to take up the issue concerning the nationality of a woman and her minor child, who are languishing in a Jammu jail for the past four years, with the Pakistani authorities.

The court issued these directions after the woman furnished the details on her paternal relations in the court through her lawyer.

Rubeena wants to go back to her home in Pakistan, but it has become difficult for her to prove her nationality as she has no supporting document. She claims that she came to India from Pakistan for treatment.

However, since 2012 she along with her minor child is stuck in the Kot Balwal jail in Jammu because the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi has failed to confirm her nationality.

The plight of this 25-year-old woman and her daughter — who were arrested in November 2012 in Jammu as they had no valid travel documents — was brought to the notice of the High Court by her lawyer Shafakat Hussain this week, who submitted her particulars in the court in the form of an application.

In view of the application submitted by the lawyer, it would not be difficult for government respondents to confirm the nationality of the woman and her child with the Pakistan High Commission and take steps for sending the duo back to their country, a single Bench of the High Court observed in its orders issued today.

“Let the respondents file a report within three weeks,” the court directed while asking the authorities concerned to take up the matter with the Pakistan High Commission at New Delhi.

As submitted by her counsel, Rubeena’s story is not of losing way and wandering into India. Rather, as Rubeena claims, she arrived in India with her husband and daughter for medical treatment. They had valid passports and other necessary documents. However, for inexplicable reasons, Rubeena’s husband left her and the daughter behind in Delhi and took away all documents.

Stuck in an alien country, Rubeena was unsure how to return home with her four-month-old daughter. It was then that her misery began.

According to the official records, Rubeena was arrested on November 6, 2012, at Kanachak in Jammu and was booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act and subsequently detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA). After her arrest she identified herself as Rubeena, daughter of Noor Mohammad, a resident of Musa Colony in Hyderabad, Pakistan.

On February 26, 2013, officials of the Pakistan High Commission met her at the Central Jail in Amritsar.

However, till date the High Commission has not confirmed her nationality. In the meantime, Rubeena completed her sentence term under the PSA in October 7, 2013, but she was again booked under the PSA every six months to make her detention legal as there was no case against her.

According to Hussain, prolonged detention has affected Rubeena’s mental and physical condition.

Rubeena from ‘Pak’ in Jammu jail since 2012

Rubeena claims she arrived in India with her husband and daughter for medical treatment. They had valid passports and other necessary documents. However, for inexplicable reasons, Rubeena’s husband left her and the daughter behind in Delhi and took away all documents. According to the official records, Rubeena was arrested on November 6, 2012, at Kanachak in Jammu